Friendship and Faith

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Scriptures: John 13:4-5, 13:13-15, 14:1-3, 15:13,15

• Summary

  This week, we’re picking up the story of Jesus telling the disciples what it means to hold onto faith after he’s gone, and we’re considering how to hold onto faith through the social phenomenon of friendship. In the sermon, Bobbi highlighted Jesus washing his disciples' feet as a profound, prophetic act that redefines power and humility, showing God as a servant and intimate friend. Bobbi reflected on the complexities of faith, acknowledging times of absence, doubt, and failure, yet emphasizing that Jesus remains loyal and prepared a place for all. Bobbi invited compassion for Judas and all those who struggle with faith. And Peter’s interaction with Jesus shows how we both ultimately desire connection with God, and yet often resist it.  Bobbi concluded by urging us to centre friendship in our spiritual lives, as friendship and faith are deeply intertwined.

• Discussion

  Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.

  Connect: In the message, Bobbi emphasized the deep connection between friendship and faith. How has friendship shaped your own spiritual journey? In what ways have friends helped you hold onto faith when it was/is difficult?

  Share:  What do you think about this idea of absence being built into faith, often leading to seasons of quietness and doubt?

  Here’s a quote from the message:
  “Now let’s remember what the farewell discourse in John is meant to do.
  It prepares Jesus’ disciples, his friends, for his absence. 

  I wonder how often we consider that absence is built into faith? 

  You might have a divine encounter, get swept up in worship and wonder, witness real answers to your prayers. And then things go quiet in your faith. 

  You just don’t feel it anymore. Maybe for months or even for years.
  

  You’ve been sold a version of faith that resembles a relationship with an imaginary friend – there at your beckon call, God sounding like something that always agrees with you. I actually don’t want that for you. The Christian tradition is way cooler than what you will inevitably outgrow. 

  At the centre of our tradition is this reality: in his darkest hour, nearly all of his friends turn away from him, and still Jesus does not turn away from them. 

  God is loyal like the day is long. 

  In the face of absence – both his and theirs – Jesus offers hope:

  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:1-3 NIV11)

  Have you experienced times when God felt absent?
  How did that affect your faith, and how did you navigate that season?

  Reflect on friendship with Jesus. Jesus calls his disciples “friends” rather than “servants,” the emphasis is on openness and honesty in the relationship.
  What does it mean to you to have Jesus as a friend?
  How do you cultivate this type of open, honest relationship in your faith?
  
  How often does your friendship with Jesus remind you of the interaction that Peter had with Jesus around foot washing?

  Bobbi noted that in Peter’s words we see both resistance and submission to Jesus’ actions. How do you navigate those moments in your life when you resist or question what God is doing? What helps you come to a place of trust?

  Engage: Bobbi touched on the tension in faith—believing and doubting, serving and waiting. Here’s what she said:

  “And look, it’s not always easy to understand what Jesus was speaking about, is it? 

  He says he’s leaving — And he’s returning

  He’s dying — Yet he’ll keep on living.
  And maybe that’s the point. 

  Resisting a faith that is only ever about one thing. Maybe your faith is most alive – most honest – when you’re holding onto two opposite things that don’t seem to fit together. 

  You believe and you doubt. You serve and you wait to receive.
  You break down and you heal.”

  Have you experienced this kind of tension in your spiritual life?
  How do you hold these seemingly opposite realities together?

  Take away:  Bobbi ended the sermon saying that in order to follow Jesus and hold onto faith we need friendship.

  How can you prioritize and nurture friendships that are in your life right now, what can be some small simple steps? In what way friendship could strengthen your faith this season?

• Prayer

  Prayer from the sermon:

  Loving God,

  It’s pretty cool to me that the best way we see Jesus give shape to faith

  Is through his friendships.

  Every part of his ministry is defined by those interpersonal relationships

  And so I pray that, for the moment we are living in, 

  We would find ways to reimagine and see as holy

  The friendships we keep.

  Friendships with the people but also friendship with the more than human world. 

  For those who know loneliness in a deep and achy place,
  I pray for companionship.

  For those worried about others, and holding the burdens of friends they love,
  I pray for openness to love.

  And for those energized to eek out a little more space for friends this week,
  I pray for inspiration.

  Spirit of the living God, present with us now,

  Enter the places of our worry and despair, and heal us of all that harms us. Amen. 

• Liturgy

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 9

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin Borst
  Bethel Music - If The Lord
  Commons Worship - Be Thou My Vision
  Bryan & Katie Torwalt - Holy Spirit
  Bethel Music - Goodness Of God

  REFLECTIVE PRAYER
  Written by Scott Wall

  
  A Prayer for Far-Off Places

  It’s been observed that prayer can draw us beyond the boundaries of our own stories, fixations, and perspectives. That it can help us be present to the wider world - bear its sorrow honestly - and steady our hands and hearts for the work of making change.

  In line with this, here’s my invitation to you.
  As we pray in a moment, let your mind travel :: to a conflict, a story, an issue far from here.
  And as we reflect, be present to the ways you care deeply for something that - perhaps - you feel you have little power to influence.
  Choosing to trust that Divine presence is here…and in every far off place. Join me now.

  Loving God -
  We pause…holding the gifts of time and space -
  And we are aware of how disaster and tragedy — war and brutality — how sorrow and ache in the world deserve our prayerful attention.

  Our minds are carried to the violence in Lebanon this week.
  To continuing suffering and injustice in Gaza.
  To escalation in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
  To displacement and loss in the DRC.
  To flooding affecting hundreds of thousands in Nigeria.
  To drought impacting so many in northern Zambia.

  In these - and every far off place we cast our minds, we pray simply - Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

  Even as we think of those who advocate and mediate today -
  Officials and brokers, working for peace.
  Medical personnel caring for bodies.
  Lawyers and social workers and mental health professionals, intervening for victims and marginalized groups.
  Of careworkers and caregivers feeding and protecting vulnerable children in quiet anonymity.

  With them - in every far off place - we pray that you would heal and restore,
  that you would - through the simple acts and tenacious effort and tender embrace of so many - let your kingdom come.

  And we ask for courage - in our quietly spoken prayers, in our discontent and uncertainty, in our generosity and care for all that is far from here - to be instruments of your peace.
  Amen.

  
  SERIES BUMPER
  How I Hold on to Faith